Smile
by wispykitty
Summary: What does Tatsuya have that Shige wants?


**Title**: Smile  
**Pairing**: Shige & Tatsuya (it's pre-romance, it deals more with very close friendship:)  
**Rating**: PG (no warnings, unless you count brushing your teeth so you don't get cavities;)  
**Summary**: What does Tatsuya have that Shige wants?  
**Author Notes**:Set one year before the series starts, when the boys are 13. I've just recently gotten back into this fandom, and have a few more ideas for fics that I will begin writing very soon. Just thought I'd post this one here, as it's a few years old and is not on here yet!

"What do I get if you lose?" Shige stood leaning against the goal post, arms crossed casually over his chest.

"What do you want?" The ball held against his right hip bone, Tatsuya raised an eyebrow as he posed the question to his best friend. The boys were alone in their favourite spot, an old and forgotten soccer field overlooking the water. They had been coming here to practice for the past year, content in only each other's company. Sometimes their practice sessions were serious, working on their speed and honing the precision of their passes, while at other times their practice sessions were spent making fun of one another and goofing off. Today was one of the goof off periods.

"That's a good question, Tatsu-bon." Shige grinned as he looked back at Tatsuya, never ceasing to be amused with the nickname. Without fail every time he fixed his best friend's name with the suffix, Tatsuya would react with a good deal of annoyance and narrow his eyes, sometimes offering a frosty retort back. Shige would always smile, standing firm in the knowledge that if the name really bothered Tatsuya, he would say something. But since he never made an honest plea for the name to be dropped, the blond would continue to use it. "What do you have that I want?"

Tatsuya had indeed narrowed his eyes and sent Shige a slightly nasty glare when he'd used the name, but as Shige thought, it really didn't bother the brunette as much as he let on. When Shige had first started using it he'd been annoyed, but over time it had become something he expected to hear every day, something he expected every time he saw Shige. As his feelings for the blond had grown over the past year of their friendship, the nickname became less of a source of aggravation and more of a source of comfort. If the day ever came that Shige were to stop calling him Tatsu-bon, that would be the day he would start to worry. "Are you looking for a list?"

Shige huffed, standing up straight only to slouch back again in a different position. "Getting cocky now, are we?" His eyes studied Tatsuya's face, wondering for a moment if there actually was anything he would ever want of Tatsuya's. He wouldn't mind switching mothers, actually. With his own living in the home he had left behind two years ago, anything would be an improvement. He'd spent a significant amount of time at the Mizuno residence over the past year and always felt a slight twinge of jealousy when he saw Tatsuya and his mother.

When around a crowd Tatsuya was your typical thirteen-year-old boy, shrugging off his mother's affectionate embrace and rolling his eyes at her affectionate comments. But when they were safely alone behind the walls of their home, things were different. In their house, Tatsuya never shied away from his mother's arms, always engaging her in a hug when she wanted it, kissing her back when she would kiss him. The first time he'd witnessed the physical display of love between mother and son, Shige had excused himself to the bathroom, but really chose to hide behind the wall and peer around the corner, watching Tatsuya happily hug the young woman he called his mother. Shige would have given anything then to have that sort of relationship with his own mother, but he knew better than to dream that dream. He wasn't going back home, at least not any time soon. He was jealous of Tatsuya in that regard. But then again his best friend's relationship with his father was rocky enough to balance out the one he shared with his mother, so when he thought about it, Shige decided that switching parents wouldn't really be so great after all.

Tatsuya didn't say anything as he waited for a response from Shige, expecting something stupid or comical. But when Shige hesitated and remained quiet, Tatsuya wondered what he was thinking about. It was hard to read Shige, hard to know for sure what he was thinking. There were times when he swore the blond would shed tears at a wrong word, but only seconds later that look of sadness in his eyes would morph to match the playful grin that would suddenly take over his face. Other times still Shige would utter the sharpest remarks he could think of, his words like daggers piercing your psyche. They would always be followed up by a witty retort that could bring laughter out of anyone. While he was certain he was the only one who knew anything about Shige's past, Tatsuya had a feeling there was still a lot the blond was hiding from him. "Well?"

Shige looked directly into Tatsuya's eyes, reading him like the open book that he was. There was concern plastered all over Tatsuya's features that he of course would never realize were there. With everything going on in the brunette's life, Tatsuya still took the time to worry about him. Shige pushed himself up from the goalpost again, walking over to stand beside his friend. "Actually, I think I already have the only thing of yours that I want."

Knowing that Shige was being deliberately vague to prompt a response out of him, Tatsuya had no choice but to play along. He glanced up at Shige, wondering what was really going on behind the bright green eyes. "Oh really? I wasn't aware you had anything of mine." His face suddenly hardening a little he narrowed his eyes. "You didn't steal anything from me the last time you were over, did you?" The comment was meant in a joking manner, though Tatsuya refused to smile to back it up.

Shige grinned at Tatsuya's comment and slung his arm around his friend's shoulder. "I was talking about your friendship, Tatsu-bon." He watched on in amusement as Tatsuya's stoic face slackened in a look of shock, obviously being blindsided by the comment. It was rare for the blond to say anything truly emotional and every time he did, it always shocked Tatsuya.

Tatsuya had been expecting a slightly offended jab back from Shige after his question about the other boy stealing, which is what he normally would have gotten. But today was one of the rare moments when Shige shocked him with something much more profound. He stared up at Shige, unable to find any suitable words with which to voice a reply. What could you really say to a comment like that anyway?

Shige took Tatsuya's silence as a cue to continue. "And your smile; I think I'm the only person next to your mother who ever gets to see you really smile." Shige wasn't exactly certain what had prompted that comment, though it was true. He wasn't really sure when exactly the change had taken place, but one day he'd suddenly realized that just as Tatsuya acted differently when alone with his mother, the brunette now acted differently when they were alone. The moment they left behind their friends was the moment that Tatsuya's usually stern face would melt away into one much more comfortable, one that even looked just a little happy. It had been a day just like today, with the sun shining and the breeze blowing off the water around them. They'd been sitting on the grass staring at clouds overhead and talking about their soccer futures when Shige had first noticed it. He'd glanced at Tatsuya out of the corner of his eye before turning his head completely and staring. Tatsuya had been smiling, looking happily content like he hardly ever looked. It had captivated the blond for a moment, rendering him speechless. From that moment on he'd known that the friendship he shared with Tatsuya was truly genuine, something necessary that would never be shaken as long as he could help it.

"I think living at the temple is softening you up, Shige." Looking up into Shige's eyes, Tatsuya wished he could have said something just as meaningful to his friend. As odd as it had been to hear the comments from the blond, Tatsuya knew they were words he would be replaying in his head for some time to come.

"All of that quiet contemplation makes you think about and appreciate the good things in life. Like the old man would say," Shige put his hand on the spot between Tatsuya's shoulder and neck, squeezing it only slightly, "I like your happy face more than your indifferent one."

Tatsuya closed his eyes and shook his head at the comment, the smile that Shige loved so much spreading over his face. It was then that he realized, when he glanced back at Shige, that he didn't actually have to say anything at all to return the emotions he felt. All he had to do was smile.


End file.
